Young white storks at Heidelberg Zoo: ringing for the big flight!

Young white storks at Heidelberg Zoo: ringing for the big flight!

It's finally that time again: the ringing season for the little white storks at Heidelberg Zoo has begun! Helmut Stein, the region's stork representative, is already on the move with a cherry picker to attach the black identification rings to the legs of the young animals. These rings are not only stylish, they play a crucial role in research and protection of the stork population. The zoo is now home to almost 40 pairs of storks, who are already raising numerous chicks this season, as leimenblog.de reports. Despite the heavy rain, the chicks are safe and well fed.

The first young storks were ringed last week. The aim of this measure is to record the number of chicks and to assess the health of the animals through random checks. “The conditions are optimal for the storks,” explains Joshua Förg, the zoo’s bird curator. Ringing not only helps to identify individual storks, but also provides valuable information about their migration, nesting sites and the general development of the stork population in the region mannheimer-morgen.de describes in detail. Interested people are given the opportunity to read the storks' ring numbers and report them to www.euring.org.

The story of the white storks

The situation for white storks in the 1970s was anything but rosy. But today we can see a positive development. According to NABU, the population in Baden-Württemberg has almost doubled since the critical times. This development is a result of conservation measures and better agriculture, which have improved the living conditions for the storks. There were already over 7,500 breeding pairs living in Germany in 2019 - an impressive number, compared to around 2,900 breeding pairs in the new federal states, as nabu.de shows.

Internationally, white storks are distributed from North Africa through Europe to Asia. The main breeding areas in Poland and southwest France are particularly important, while in Great Britain they are no longer considered to exist. The latest studies show that the migratory behavior of storks has changed: Many of them now prefer to spend the winter on the mild Iberian Peninsula instead of in the traditional wintering areas in Africa.

A step in the right direction

The ringing campaign at Heidelberg Zoo is not only important for the animals themselves, but also for nature conservation. The data collected can be used to develop effective protective measures for young bird breeding. The zoo not only offers a habitat for the storks, but also makes a valuable contribution to the science and protection of this fascinating bird species. Maybe we'll soon have a new generation of traveling storks spreading their wings south!